It is proposed that backbone migrations in an enzyme cavity, occurring during terpene and steroid biosynthesis, are subject to an electrostatic driving force which promotes those hydride and methide shifts which bring the carbocation closer to its counterion. In order to test this hypothesis, cation-initiated olefin cyclizations will be conducted in micelles. The micelle is employed to isolate the cyclized cation from its counterion and, in this regard, mimic the environment here postulated to occur in the cyclase enzyme cavity. If the electrostatic driving force hypothesis is correct, there should be a tendency for backbone rearrangement in the micelle.